Monday, May 30, 2011

1992 greg swindell

the indians traded lefty greg swindell (first name: forest) to the reds in november of 1991. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

swindell pitched for the cross-state rivals for just one season. he went 12-8 and posted his career best era as a starter in 1992 - 2.70. he parlayed that performance into a 4-year, $16 million contract with the astros after the season ended. houston wound up releasing swindell during the 1996 season when he was 0-3 with a 7.83 era after 8 appearances. the indians picked him up for the remainder of the season, but left him off of their postseason roster.

that's ok, though, because eventually swindell found his way to arizona and won a world championship as part of the 2001 diamondbacks team that vanquished the yankees.